Inkinators: Halloween 2015
by TheSwimmingSquid
Summary: The trees are almost losing their leaves, the air is getting colder and no one was nearby. Well, except for a group of friends. The Sun was going behind the mountains, as the Moon was rising: what events the night is reserving for them?
1. Prologue - Driving down the road

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The skies were orangish, with few clouds just passing by slowly. Under the sky, a collection of trees with some brown leaves attached on their branches. A higher quantity of them, were all grouped on different large piles. Near the piles, a brownish road crossed all the way through the trees: it was filled with pebbles and occasional tussocks.

A single acorn was resting on its center, standing still. Nearby, a small Squirrelfish raises the back and shakes the tail around. The eyes were all pointing at the acorn. Looking left and right, it slowly crawls towards the item.

Suddenly, a noise faintly storms throughout the area. The animal already looks over the source, raising the ears: the sound was gradually increasing. The Squirrelfish turns around, sprinting with all the fours, away from the road.

Zooming over the acorn, a vehicle going towards the horizon, playing Rock music on its radio. The wheels were tall and large, full of dust. The vehicle doors had stickers depicting a pair of eyes, a logo brand, an 8-bit Squid and a red character named FishFry.

Its license plate had faint brown spots, standing on the letters: it reads INK1N4T0R5. The vehicle had 6 seats: three on the front and three on the back. From the outside, it was possible to see 4 Inklings sitting on one seat each.

The Inkling boy sitting on the bottom-right seat had his tentacles tied up in a red rubber band. He wears a long sleeves white plain shirt, long blue pants and a pair of dark brown shoes with slightly scratched parts.

The Inkling girl sitting next to him had her eyes resting on a smartphone screen, which was filled with numerous words. She was wearing a black thick jacket, a white button up shirt, a medium-size skirt with a thin white line at the edge and sportive shoes, colored in black and white. Her left ankle has a slight scar line.

Next to the girl, there was a blue bag: it was stuffed with the ropes tied on the top. It was sitting on the top of a dark blue case, laying horizontally. It had a tag attached on the flap with the name **Mirii** written on it. Near her feet, there were two cases of identical shape, standing on top of each other.

The below one is colored in yellow: the tag attached has the name **Grina** written on, with the point of the i drawn as a face sticking out a tongue, with the eyes closed. The upper one is colored in red: the tag attached has the name **Barrs** , with a line crossing on the second r.

On the middle-front seat, an Inkling girl was lying her feet on the large dashboard: her stomach was a little large. She has one piercing on each ear, located in the same position. Her eyes had contact lens on, barely visible.

The girl was chewing a gum, while looking at a small screen: there is an 8-bit white Squid landing on a light-blue platform, with the background filled with multiple stars. She was holding a button with her right thumb and moving the left thumb on the right side of a cross-shaped button.

She was wearing a jacket filled with spots, each in a different color. Her red shirt has long sleeves, with a green Squid widely smiling looking up-right and a message above reading "GOT SALTY?". Her long jeans were tied in a belt and had some holes all around in various sizes. Her shoes are slim, filled with Squids: some are colored light-blue, others are colored pink.

On the right-front seat, there was an open bag of "Squidding Chips" with a few of them inside, an opened box of "Inktastic Chocolate" with twelve empty holes. Crumble chips were on the car floor mat, under the girl's legs.

Below the right-front seat, there are four opened "Inkshake" bottles, with nothing inside: on one of the logos it was written "Strawberry", other two identical logos read "Chocolate" and the last one has the "Banana" logo on it.

Behind the steering wheel, there is an Inkling boy. He has vague traces of beard and thicker eyebrows. His hands were full of slight cracks and rather visible veins. His stomach is slightly large and his arms have some muscles.

He has his tentacles tied up in a rubber band, with multiple segments colored respectively in brown, yellow and dark green. He was wearing a leather jacket, a golden large necklace, a long sleeves checkered blue-white button up shirt, light black jeans without a belt and blue shoes with the edge and laces colored brown.

The girl, who kept tapping buttons and chewing a gum, raises her head as her eyes rest on the road. She snorted.

"Still nothing…" She turns her head over the boy on her left.

His sight was glued on the road, as he gently rolls the steering wheel. The girl curves her back, looking at the other two Inklings: the boy was tilting towards the girl, both staring at the smartphone. The chewing gum girl smiled, returning to her previous posture.

"You have to admit it, gang." The girl sunk more on her seat. "The idea was totally genius! Even I couldn't believe such awesomeness!"

The other girl holding the smartphone raises her head, watching the girl's back head.

"We didn't even reach the destination yet." She lowers slightly her eyebrows. "You should refrain yourself from acclaiming inexistent merits."

The chewing gum girl forms a big bubble, which immediately retreats inside her mouth. She sighs loudly.

"Sometimes I wonder how can you live without some positivity…"

"Facts are the only indicators I truly consider." She slightly raises her head, as her eyes kept looking at the girl's back head. "Unlike you, who keeps hoping in mindless luck."

Behind a couple of trees, a large bright wooden edge was sticking out, a bit far from the Inklings. Between the trees, the bright wooden material appears as well. The front-sitting girl smiles once again.

"We'll see about that… we'll see." She nods, slowly.


	2. Chapter 1 - The message

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The sky was dark blue, with stars filling the void. The Moon was among the stars, as bright as them. An howling sound stretches throughout the collection of trees. Their branches were slowly moving up and down, as their leaves glide through the air, gently falling towards the terrain. The leaf piles were pushed down.

An owl sticks the head out of a hole located above a branch. The rest of the body came out from the hole, as the feet grasp the branch with the claws. The owl walks sideways, following the branch. The head turns down, as the eyes track down a house. The animal hoots loudly. Near the house, there is a vehicle standing still: leaves were resting on the seats and on the car floor.

The door on the front is dark green, thick, with a round doorknob colored in faint gold. The knocker was small and round, sharing the same color as the doorknob.

The house's walls are light brown, with wood splitters appearing on several points. The hipped roof had a darker brown color, one window on each side and a brick chimney sticking out from the back: smoke was coming out from it.

Above the front door, there is a wide-round window. On each side there are 4 windows: 2 are positioned on the 1st Floor and the other 2 above them. The bottom-back windows were illuminated by a blurry light, showing an armchair made in leather, colored in dark red.

The fire was cracking loudly on the logs, inside a chimney. A round clock was hanging on the chimney wall: the short clock hand was pointing near the 11 and the long clock hand was pointing between the 6 and the 7.

On the chimney's left side, there is a large shelf filled with leather-covered books, most of them have numbers in gold: on the bottom, there is a hole between the books, as large as one of them. On its right side, there is a desk with a chair under, two small drawers below its surface, a brown thick mat rests on the center, a small bottle closed with a slim black cork and a tag attached on which reads "I.T. Brothers: Black Ink N. 045".

Above the desk, there is a painting on the wall, showing a male adult Inkling wearing a general uniform, while doing a salute. Several paintings depicting a single or a group of Inklings were scattered around the walls.

In front of the desk, there is a large white sofa made in leather, filled with a line of small holes on its backrest, very near the wall. The Inkling girl with one piercing on each ear sunk on the most left part, resting her left elbow on its arm.

Next to her, the Inkling boy with the small beard: he was tapping buttons on the sides, while looking at a small wide monitor. The girl looks the other young female Inkling: she was sitting on a dark red armchair near the chimney, holding a leather-covered book with one hand and flipping a page with the other.

Between the armchair and the sofa, there was a small table with short legs, covered in a light white cover sheet: on the top of it, there is a slim vase, half-filled with water, with red and yellow flowers sticking out.

Near the armchair, there was another one, identical on every aspect: the Inkling boy with tentacles tied in a red rubber band was sit on, twiddling his thumbs. His eyes were looking at the girl holding the book, from their corners.

Behind them, there is a long rectangular black table with one chair on the short sides and 5 chairs on the long ones. Two candles on iron plates were standing on it. The tiles had a combination of black and white rhombuses.

None of the Inklings were wearing a jacket. The girl sitting on the sofa, backs her head on the border, staring at the white ceiling. She snorted.

"I'm so bored!" She shouts.

The boy holding the device turns his head over her. He pushes a button, with the word "Start" above it.

"Wanna play Squid Jump, girl?" He stretches his right arm, moving the device in front of the girl.

"I'm sick of it!" She covers her face, keeping her position.

"Read a book." The other girl flips another page.

Her hands fall on the sofa, then her head faces ahead.

"I'm allergic to ancient books." She snorts, shaking her head.

"Tsk." The other girl raises her head, lowering her eyebrows. "A book is never too old."

"But I want some fun, Mirii…" She lies her head on her right palm, as her elbow rests on her leg. "My mind can't live without it."

Mirii looks at the girl, for about 10 seconds. She closes the book, putting it on her legs, as her hands rest on it. Her posture elevates a little, standing upright.

"Now… what you were saying about that idea of yours…?"

The girl raises her back, lowering her eyebrows.

"Th-that doesn't count!" She clenches her fists on her legs. "I was referring to the deal!"

"The deal…" Mirii squeezes her eyes slightly. "I remember correctly how you mentioned a large television sitting on the lounge…"

The girl looks on the tiles, shrinking a little.

"Ehm… eh eh, yeah! I think I said something like that…"

"Not to mention, no walls home electrical sockets inside this house." Mirii folds her arms.

The girl shrunk a bit more, as sweats appear on her forehead.

"Bu-but at least we have a nice, little chimney! I was shivering once I lay a foot here."

Mirii lowers her head, closing her eyes, as she frowns slightly.

"Luckily, I had instant noodles in my case… or else our stomachs would rumble even now."

The girl gulped, shrinking some more, as the number of sweat drops increases.

"I couldn't stop eating those things! Thanks, Mirii!" The boy, next to Mirii, smiles widely.

Mirii turns over him, smiling too.

"You are welcome, Hun." She nods.

"Don't you usually call him Hunley?" The girl returns instantly on her previous size, grasping her legs.

"I thought to call him with his original name." Mirii looks at the girl. "At least, sometimes…"

"Well, I'd never change his true nickname: Hunry!" She closes her eyes, slightly raising her head, as she folds her arms.

"How about Hunter?" The boy with the small beard lie his hands on his legs, stretching his back.

"Nah… only Hunry carries such original nickname!" The girl didn't change her pose.

Hun sighs, raising his eyebrows.

"But enough talk!" The girl stands up, clenching both her fists, as her eyes rest above. "Let's take a walk outside!"

"Another one?!" The boy backs on the backrest. "Girl, I'm like pass and out!"

"Oh come on, Bars!" She twists towards him, opening her arms. "You can't let a bunch of pebbles stop us walking through the wonderful outside world!"

"I heard a howling before…" Mirii caresses her right tentacle.

The silence fell in the room, for about 7 seconds.

"Drat… that might do it, though…" The girl re-turns around, falling on the sofa.

Her head tilts down, looking her shoes.

"We are doomed to deal with the boredom…" She sighs loudly.

Mirii crinkles her nose up, then she shakes her head slowly, as she turns over the cover of the book. Hun looks at the tiles: suddenly he stands up, raising his forefinger and smiling widely.

"I remembered something important, Grina!" He looks at the girl sitting on the sofa.

The other Inklings turn their heads over him.

"I have a game inside my bag!" He looks at each of them. "It's sealed in a box and the name was… was…"

Hun scratches the back of his head, looking up.

"Ehm… I forgot the name…" He raises his eyebrows, as his mouth downturned.

"Where did you get the game?" Mirii closes the book.

"The other day I was walking around the city with my little sister. We saw all those… uhm… those people under in different marquees. They had boxes with vegetables, shoes, clothes… uhm, I hope you got the idea."

"Yes, yes. I get ya." Grina nods, as her back stretches forward.

"Ok!" He smiles. "So, we walked between those marquees, looking around each of them. Suddenly, a voice called us! It was an old woman, behind a box full of toys! Or… whatever she told us, that time." He massages his chin, lowering his head.

"Whoa, dude… you don't even know what a toy looks like?!" Bars lifts himself, sitting near the edge of the sofa.

"Kinda… I remember my sister holding a doll, bringing it around the house." Hun looks up, tapping his foot.

"Please continue with your story, Hunley." Mirii lifts her leg on the other knee, as her hands stand on the book.

He nods.

"What I was I…?" He looks on the tiles, then he raises his head. "Ah, yes! She stared at me, saying how lucky I was, as I crossed her sight. The woman took the game box under the counter, saying how the product would be mine for just 100 coins."

"It's… kind cheap." Grina raises one of her eyebrows.

"That was my same opinion!" He snaps his fingers, towards the girl. "So, I look at my sister: she was bending her fingers, nodding at me. And… well… I gave her my bag of coins!"

"You had 100 coins inside that bag?" Mirii squeezes her eyes slightly.

"Yeah! Is that a coincidence or not?! That woman was right: I was really lucky that day!" He puffs his chest a bit, folding his arms.

"Did you play with your sister, afterwards?" Grina covers her mouth.

"As soon as we stepped in our house, she dived on the bed and closed her eyes. Did I mention it was night?" Hun scratches his cheek, as his eyes look at the ceiling.

"In other words, you never used the game…" Mirii shakes her head.

"I didn't even open that box yet!" He opens his arms.

The three Inklings expanded their eyes, saying "WHAT?!" at the same time. Hun lies his hands on his chest, expanding his eyes too.

"Wh-what's the matter?!" He looks at Mirii.

Grina sighs, covering her eyes with her palm, shaking her head.

"All right." She lies her hands on her legs, lifting her back. "Never mind that! Hunry, bring the game here."

"Oh… ok!" He stands up. "I'll be back in a jiffy!"

The boy runs towards the opened door. Grina stands up too.

"Let's all get our seats on that long table." She looks at Bars, then at Mirii.

"Girl, shouldn't we get a lighter or something to light up the candles? I can't see much there." The boy squeezes his eyes, while looking the long table.

"I saw one into that drawer." Mirii points at the lowest drawer, below the desk.

"Good eye, Mirii!" Grina raises her thumb up.

She walks near the drawer, pulling it out: inside, there are a block of papers vaguely colored in yellow, a blue quill resting on the top, another bottle full of black ink on its side, a rectangular box with a tag on the front reading "LORD SQUISTENBURG's FINE CIGARETTES": it was positioned behind the papers.

The girl picks the box up, putting it on the desk: she pushes the drawer back. Pulling out the top of the box, Grina saw a collection of large brown cigarettes, with a smaller golden box, laying on them. She takes it, pulling down the upper part: under, there was the hole-filled tail of the inside case.

The girl turns around: Mirii was near the shelf, bending down. The girl carefully inserts her book, into the gap. Bars lies his hands on his legs, standing up: he was looking at Grina.

"That thing still works, girl?" He walks over the chairs.

"It still has to begin its test!" Grina pulls the flint wheel.

A small chunk of fire appears on the tail. She smiles.

"Success!" She pushes its cork down.

Bars pulls the chair standing below the middle of the table, sinking on it. Mirii walks on the other side, pulling a chair almost near the center: she sits on, facing Bars ahead. She looks Grina reaching the table. The girl pulls the top part of the box, rubs the flint wheel as the small fire appears again.

She pours it on the two candles: each were lit, slightly illuminating the center of the table. Multiple loud steps were heard in rapid succession: Hun runs in, holding a long, rectangular box with both his hands.

The boy puts the box on the table: everyone's eyes were resting on it. It was full of scratches, especially on the angles. The cover had large blank spots around, as the word "SQUID", half a Green Squid and the upper part of a Blue Squid are seen on.

Grina sits on the chair, standing near Bars: she slightly lowers her eyebrows, as her lips raises on one side.

"Ehm… is this the game, Hunry?" She looks him walking near Mirii.

"Yes! I was almost opening the box myself, but I mustered all my patience to wait and open it in front of you!" Pulling a chair, Hun sits on it standing near Mirii and in front of Grina.

Grina stretches a bit forward, sniffing on the box: her nose crinkles up, her mouth was downturn almost opening, her head shakes rapidly as her eyes were closed. Mirii frowns a bit, while looking at the girl.

"I'm sure Grina would like to open the box." She closes her eyes, slightly raising her head.

"Really?" Hun smiles, looking at the girl ahead.

"Wh-what?!" Grina expands her eyes. "Why would I"

"You." Mirii frowns even more, staring at her eyes, as she lowers slightly her back. "You are excited to open that box first… right?"

Her forehead was sweating, as her eyes were looking left and right.

"We-well… you know… since Hunry bought this game and he never really opened"

Multiple veins were popping out on Mirii's forehead: she was gritting her teeth, almost completely squeezing her eyes and smoke was coming out from her ears. Grina's iris shrunk, as the girl gulps loudly.

"Eh eh eh… wh-who am I kidding? I-I simply can't wait to touch this very fine, very perfect, very sophisticated box and carefully opening it!" She caresses the box, then pats on it, while smiling widely and showing her teeth.

Smoke no longer came from Mirii's ears and the veins disappeared. The girl lightly lifts her back, as her eyes keep looking at the box, then at Grina. The other girl sighs loudly, as her hands slide on the sides of the box. Her mouth got downturned, her head turning away, her eyes almost squeezed staring at the box from their corners. She slowly pulls up the lid with her fingers.

Inside the box, there is a folded paper showing half a road. Next to it, there are a deck of ? cards, a green dice and small 4 Squids statues in different colors, but with identical shape and expression. Grina throws the lid on the left side of the table, rubbing her palms on her jeans.

"Oh no… don't tell me this is Squids and Ladders!" Bars grabs his head, lying on the table with his elbows.

"So? Is there a problem with it?" Mirii frowns, looking at the boy ahead.

"N-no! No problems at all!" He rapidly moves his hands left and right, as his head was shaking.

"Good." She turns her head, looking at Hun. "Shall we begin, Hunley?"

"Ehm… I don't know how to play this game…" He scratches his head, as his eyes rest on the various pieces.

"It's simple." Mirii picks the folded paper, unwrapping it.

Grina takes the box and slid it on the left side. Mirii puts the opened paper on the center.

"This is the map of the game." She points it with her palm.

The map's edges are colored in green, with vague drawings of grasses, a pond, a small town and a cave. Multiple squares were aligned together, as they form a spiral and finishing on the center of the paper: it was colored in black, with drawings of bats, orcs and a dragon right near the last square.

Some squares have a ? on them, others had different phrases written on and the rest were blank.

"Your objective is to reach the last panel over here, before us." She points it with her forefinger. "To do so, you have to roll the dice and move your character according to the number showing on the top side."

Mirii takes the dice, shakes it inside her fist, then she throws it on the map. 4 dots are shown above.

"I did a 4." She takes the Orange Squid Statue.

She puts it on a square with the word reading "START".

"Now my character passes 3 squares, standing on the 4th one." She taps the statue on each square, stopping at the 4th one.

Hun nods, with his eyes following the statue.

"We take turns, so you have to wait for the others to finish their moves." Mirii looks at him, resting her fist on the map.

"Turns? What does that mean?" He looks at Mirii.

Mirii stood in silence for some seconds.

"Maybe during the game, you'll understand better. For now, we must choose our characters." She takes the Orange Squid Statue, putting it back on the START square. "I choose Orange."

Hun looks inside the box.

"I'll pick green." He takes the Green Squid Statue.

"Put it next to mine, Hunley." She taps the START square.

The boy lays it on the START square.

"Yellow for me." Grina picks the Yellow and the Blue Squid Statues. "I guess Bars gets blue."

The girl puts the statues on the START square. She also took the deck, pouring them to Bars.

"You know what to do, big boy!" She winks at him.

He smiled, nodding and picking the deck: he divides the deck in two equal parts, slamming them on the top of each other. Using both his hands, the cards fell together in quick succession. Bars kept doing the same hand movements for a while, until he slams the deck on the table.

"Wow! How did you do that?!" Hun looks at the deck.

"Heh, dude… we used to play Poker matches, back then!" Bars' arms lies on the table, grinning.

"Poker…?" Hun tilts his head.

"It's a card game." Mirii picks the dice. "But for now, let's start deciding our turns."

"Ehm… the turns?" Hun watches her fist shaking the dice.

"Yes. Since this is your first time playing, you'll start first." She throws the dice on the map.

One dot were on the upper dice's face. Grina holds her mouth, laughing. Mirii covers her eyes, sighing.

"Oh my!" Grina takes the dice. "I wonder who'll start for last."

She shakes the dice, throwing it on the map: 6 dots are showed.

"I wonder who'll start second too!" The girl moves her elbows backwards, while clenching her fist and smiling.

"Nnnggghhh!" Mirii hits the table with her fist, frowning slightly. "Let's just start this game, already!"

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The candles were both very short. Grina's head was lying on her folded arms, which were resting on the table. Mirii was shaking her fist, throwing the dice on the table: 3 dots are shown above.

She taps the Orange Squid Statue for 2 squares, stopping at the 3rd one with a big ? on it. She sighs loudly.

"No…" The girl picks up a ? card, shaking her head.

Behind it, it was written "You got unlucky! Back to the START!"

"Nooooooooo!" She slams the card on the table. "This is ridiculous! It's the 4th time I got that card!"

"Girl… I got it like 6 times." Bars slides his hand down through his face.

Mirii slams the Orange Squid Statue on the START square: the Green Squid Statue was on the next square, the Blue Squid Statue on the 5th Blank Square and the Yellow Squid Statue on the 12th Square with the words reading "Take a nap, losing one turn!".

The girl looks at the clock: the short clock hand was pointing a bit after the 12 and the long clock hand was pointing between the 8 and the 9.

"More than one hour passed, since the beginning… and still no one ever reached the cave!" She frowns, pointing at the map with her palms.

"Dasquid is up with this game…" Bars shakes his head, knocking on the table.

"Listen up, gang." Grina raises her head: her eyelids were almost completely lowered. "My head hurts and I'm getting really sick. Let's put this away and get some sleep."

Mirii looks at her, staying in silence for 4 seconds.

"Ok." She nods, yawning while covering her mouth. "I'll help you out, Hunley."

Hun raises his eyebrows: he took the box, taking a quick glance inside. A small piece of paper was resting near a corner. The boy took it, seeing a collection of words. His eyes were passing through each of them.

"OH NO!" He stands up, expanding his eyes.

The three Inklings quickly turn over him.

"THIS IS TERRIBLE! WE CAN'T INTERRUPT THE GAME!" He slaps his forehead.

"What are you mumbling about…?" Grina rubs one of her eyes: both were getting red.

"Listen to this!" He grips the paper.

 _For years I'm waiting for my friends. They promised to finish the game with me. I was always there when they had a birthday party or when they were crying alone. I was the only one who shared the toys with them. I never minded about that: all I wanted was their eternal friendship. My dad keeps saying to open my eyes and see who I'm dealing with._

 _They promised to finish the game with me. They never appeared in my life, again. I learned my lesson, dad. I'm going to make sure others will, as well._

 _Please, finish the game… friends. Or else I'll pay a visit… and show you where people go._

Hun breathes loudly, trembling. Grina yawned loudly.

"Come on, Hunry… it's just a stupid joke." She stands up, with her eyes almost closed.

"A joke?!" He twists towards Mirii.

"Yes…" Mirii stands up. "I'm sure the old woman wrote everything down…"

Hun stops trembling, as he watches Mirii bending the map, taking the statues and the dice: she puts all the items inside the box, sealing it with the lid. She passes the box to the boy.

"Don't think about this, ok…?" Mirii stretches up a little, raising her arms, squeezing her eyes and standing in tiptoe.

Hun sighs loudly, nodding at her. She smiled. After Bars stands up, everyone walks towards the door, in a line. Hun keeps looking at the box, raising his eyebrows and with a slight downturn mouth.


	3. Chapter 2 - Red eyes

**Thanks for the honest review, Guest! I hope you'll like this chapter too!**

 **If you like this story so far, please let me know about it with a review.**

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The stars' light were passing through the window, resting on the black and white tiles. Surrounding the light, a thick mantle of darkness. Lowly snores were lurking around. Another sound came in, followed by steps noises. A tentacle gradually emerges from the darkness, then disappears back in.

A circle source of white light points at the wooden door. A hand reaches the golden door handle, a little rusty.

 _Screeeeeeeeech…_

The door was pulled slowly. Steps were heard again: someone, holding a smartphone and thrusting it forward, was walking towards another door, through a dark red carpet with circles on its edges. The other hand grasps an identical door handle saw before.

The door was pushed: the light was pointing at the floor, covered with white tiles. The smartphone twists to the left, looking a square-shaped mirror. A few more steps… and from the mirror, Grina appears as her eyes stare at it.

The mirror was reflecting only her head: her iris were bigger than before and the piercings were no longer on her ears. The girl kept looking at the mirror, gradually dropping her jaw. She turns her head left and right, touching her ears.

The smartphone was pointed over the arms: those were under long sleeves, with the other hand almost covered up till the fingers. The light moves on the bubbles-themed pajama pants as they were touching the ground with large slippers, depicting two yellow Squids, sticking out a bit.

The girl screamed loudly, as her hands lay on the cheeks and the smartphone fell on the floor. Grina's lungs were growing and shrinking in a fast pace. Multiple steps were heard, from behind the door: the girl picks her smartphone up and turns her head over the door.

 _SLAM!_

"What's going on?!" Bars shouted, looking around.

Grina was pointing her smartphone on the boy: his red pajama's sleeves were covering both his arms and hands. His pants were touching the floor too, with blue slippers showing up just by an inch. He raises his head, looking at Grina in her eyes. Mirii and Hun walked ahead.

"You…" Grina covers her mouth. "You all look so small…!"

The other Inklings lower their heads: Mirii looks at her own pajamas with drawn flowers, each in different color. Hun was wearing a short sleeve white shirt: he holds up his short dark green pants, with black sandals on his feet. Those were gripped by two large laces.

Mirii pulls up her sleeves, then she looks slightly down at Hun. The sleeves slowly stretch all over Mirii's arms.

"What happened to us?" Mirii pulls up her sleeves again.

"Did we shrunk?" Bars holds up his pants' sleeves.

"Bars, if you didn't notice it yet… you don't have a beard anymore!" She points at him.

The boy quickly touches his face around.

"Dasquid?! How this happened?!" His pants slowly fall down, as he quickly grabs them up.

"I don't know… my piercings are gone too!" She thrusts each her ear, towards the Inklings.

Mirii shakes her head, as she caresses her right tentacle.

"This absurdity can only be explained with one logical conclusion." She sighs loudly. "We rejuvenate."

"No… no, it's a lie…" Bars thrust his arms down, inhaling loudly. "ARE YOU SQUIDDING ME?!"

"It's all about using some common sense." Mirii taps her cheek. "You don't have a beard and you are shorter than Grina, unlike before. Not to mention, you have the same height as mine. Hunley is shorter than me."

"How about the piercings, Mirii?!" Grina steps ahead. "Those can't grow out by age!"

"Correct." Mirii nods as she turns her head, looking at Grina. "However, you can't also grow younger by the use of science."

"… what do you mean…?" Grina taps the floor, folding her arms.

"The process isn't something coming from any technological devices." She coughs shortly. "The only possible explanation is the use of magic."

"Ehm… girl, how about our skins?" Bars looks at his hands.

His skin was slightly dark.

"Yeah! Young Inklings have their skin drench with ink!" Grina lowers her eyebrows.

"I assume the magical process let us keep something from our old age. After all, it was able to remove piercings from an Inkling being." Mirii rubs her own hands.

Her hands were slightly cold.

"We must find the cause of this transformation and solve it quickly." She trembles a bit.

"WAIT A MINUTE!" Hun shouted, still holding his pants.

The three Inklings turn over him.

"Did you all forget about that letter?! We didn't finish the game, so someone is coming here!" He grits his teeth, as his eyebrows raise.

Grina's iris shrunk.

"... you don't mean"

Mirii puts her forefinger in front of her lip: the girl stops talking. 3 step noises were heard. Mirii lends on the door with her back, walking sideways slowly. The Inklings' hearts were beating faster, as they trembled.

Mirii stretches her back, as her head turns around a bit: everything was surrounded by darkness.

"Everyone…" Mirii whispers. "Let's all walk away from here… slowly…"

The three Inklings nod: they all walked on their tiptoes, looking to their left, towards the obscure area. Red eyes appear far away!

 _Hi… friends…_

All 4 screamed loudly! They run towards the stairs, descending them: Bars jumped the last two steps. He pushes a door, as the others ran through: the boy slams it, lending against it with his back. Grina was bended on her knees, behind an armchair. Hun and Mirii were all under the table. Everyone was breathing loudly.

"Th-the window…!" Mirii turns over the window. "Let's escape through the window!"

 _No… escape…_

The Inklings screamed again, looking all over the room: they saw the sofa, the shelf filled with books, the empty chimney, the desk and the paintings.

"COME ON! EVERYONE!" Bars runs towards the window.

He thrusts his shoulder forward, impacting on it: he fell on his back, as the window didn't have anything on it. He yelps, holding his shoulder. Grina runs towards him, massaging his shoulder. The girl frowns a lot, looking up.

"WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM US, FREAK?!" She grits her teeth. "LEAVE US ALONE!"

Silence dominates the room.

"ANSWER US!" She keeps massaging the boy's shoulder.

 _Friends… do you want to… play?_

"NO!" Grina roars.

"Grina, calm down please!" Hun walks near her.

"NO, HUNRY! I'LL NOT CALM DOWN!" She stands up, clenching her fists. "IF THIS GUY WANTS SOME TROUBLE, I'LL GLADLY GIVE IT TO HIM!"

Suddenly, one of the chairs shakes violently. The Inklings all turn in its direction: Mirii crawls out from the table, jumping over the armchair. The other Inklings follow her, bending down behind the furniture. The chair flies up, stopping in midair.

 _Friends… do you want to… die?_

They were shivering, with their eyes getting watery.

"LEAVE US ALONE!" Grina shouts, gritting her teeth with her eyebrows raised.

The chair was floating up, towards the Inklings. They stood up, backing away slowly. The chair falls down, as the humanoid Squids dived in different directions: the chair broke down in a half, following by near screams.

"Grina!" Mirii shivers. "Let's play his game!"

The girl's lungs were growing and shrinking rapidly, as her eyes were looking at Mirii. She nods, as her head was shaking.

"ALL RIGHT! WE WANT TO PLAY YOUR GAME!" She looks at the ceiling.

The silence came in once again: Grina gulped, Bars rubs his eyes and Mirii walks closer to Hun, as he hugs the girl.

 _Do you want to… play?_

"Yes!" Grina was breathing slower.

Silence came in for some seconds.

 _Too… late…_

"WHAT?!" She stands up, opening her arms. "WE CHANGED OUR MINDS! I'M SO READY TO FINISH UP THAT GAME OF SQUIDS AND LADDERS!"

 _No… escape…_

Tears were falling from her eyes.

"PLEASE! I'M BEGGING YOU! GIVE US ANOTHER CHANCE!" She falls on her knees, clasping her hands.

There was silence… for a moment.

 _I want to… kill you…_

The girls gasped. The two armchairs start flying up. Bars gets up, rushing towards the door: he pulls it.

"THIS WAY!" He moves his arm forward.

Everyone else sprints ahead, as the armchairs fell right next to them.

"THE GAME!" Mirii runs on the stairs. "LET'S GET THE GAME!"

"ARE YOU CRAZY?! THE DUDE IS UP THERE!" Bars runs after her.

Grina and Hun run on the stairs too, as they keep calling Mirii's name. The small girl reaches the top of the stairs, rushing towards another door. Red eyes appear in front of her: the girl falls backwards, screaming.

"NOOOOO!" Hun becomes a small Squid, sliding towards the eyes.

He jumps on them, while spinning: those disappears in thin air. Mirii was breathing loudly, trembling.

"Are you alright?!" He returns into his previous form, lending his hand in front of her.

Mirii grasps it, as she was lifted by the boy. Bars and Grina walk closer.

"Great job, Hunry!" She hugs him.

Hun blushes.

"Eh eh… it was nothing!" He scratches the back of his head.

Suddenly, multiple red eyes appear around the Inklings: they screamed!

 _I'm… angry…_

Bars pushes the door.

"OVER HERE!" He runs forward.

The kids sprint in the same direction: the boy pulls the door, lending on it with his back. Mirii runs on her right through the darkness and returns with a bag in her hands.

"GOT IT!" She lifts the bag up.

"SOMEONE, DO SOMETHING!" Bars was holding the door, as loud noises were coming from it.

Hun looks at the window: he lowers his eyebrows, then he turns into a Squid.

"What you have in mind, Hunley?!" Mirii's eyes were glued on him.

He slides towards the window, jumping on it with a spin: it breaks up, as the boy falls down.

"NOOOO, HUNLEY!" Mirii rushes over the window, looking down.

Hun was covering the cold terrain, with blue ink. The other Inklings were all colored blue on their tentacles.

"GENIUS!" Mirii twists behind. "THE GROUND IS BLUE! LET'S ALL DIVE IN!"

The girl jumps out from the window, becoming a Squid in midair. Grina and Bars look at each other: they nodded, as both rushed towards the window. The door was slammed, as the red eyes were floating in their direction.

The two Inklings jumped, turning into Squids and diving on the blue ink. They remerged in their humanoid form. Everyone look through the window: there were only shards around it.

"TO THE HUMMER!" Grina shouts, running to her right.

"Wait, girl! I don't have the keys!" Bars was right behind her.

"OH NO!" She stops, turning over. "HOW ARE WE GOING TO REACH THE CITY?!"

Mirii and Hun stop near the two.

 _VRRROOOOOOOOOMMMMM!_

Everyone's iris shrunk. Grina slowly turns behind: in the distance, the vehicle's lights were on and the wheels were twisting over the Inklings. No one was on the vehicle.


	4. Chapter 3 - The game

**Thanks for the review, Guest! This chapter will surely have much more about the game, as the title suggests.**

 **Thank you, Leafstar! Reading how people like my stories, it's so cool! Especially when I like the stories I'm writing about! Hope this chapter will be appreciated as much as the previous one!**

 **This is not a spinoff of Inkinators: a Splatoon fanfiction, Kazrthen. I'll reveal later the timeline in which the events took place, using the Author's Notes.**

 **If you like this story so far, please let me know about it with a review.**

* * *

Grina was shaking her head, slowly.

"No…"

 _SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH!_

The wheels kept rolling on the terrain. The vehicle moves towards the Inklings, with gradual speed. They screamed, while diving in different directions. The vehicle passes near them: it stops with a screech, turning around.

"HUNRY!" Grina turns her head over him. "SLIDE AWAY!"

"I can't!" His lungs were growing and shrinking. "I'm too tired!"

 _SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH!_

The vehicle sprints towards Hun: he rolled to his right, impacting on a small rock, as the wheels were passing nearby. The boy yelped, holding his back. Mirii rushes towards him, while the car slides and twists around, near the front door.

"ARE YOU ALRIGHT?!" She stretches her hand.

Hun grabs it, standing on his legs.

"Ow… my back…" His eyes were a bit watery.

Mirii looks behind: Grina and Bars were picking rocks, throwing them at the vehicle. The girl lowers her eyebrows: she bends down, picking up 3 small pointy rocks. She runs over a tree, standing in front of it: Mirii throws one rock, almost hitting the right car light.

The wheels were rotating towards the girl.

 _SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH!_

The vehicle speeds in Mirii's direction. She was standing still, frowning slightly. The car almost reach the girl: she jumps on the left.

 _CRAAAASSSHH!_

A medium-size branch falls down on the right-front seat: an owl hoots while flying away. The car lights were shut, the motor wasn't rumbling and the windshield had big shards around it. The Inklings walk over the vehicle, going on its left side. Grina lies her hand on the hood, with the front-part a bit crumbled.

"No!" She throws a punch on it. "Our hummer…"

"Wait, girl!" Bars stands on tiptoes. "Maybe the motor is still safe! Let me check in!"

Grina looks down on him.

"How are you going to lift the hood?" She folds her arms.

"Ehm… with my strength?" He scratches the back of his head, grinning.

The girl shakes her head, tapping the terrain, with her eyes closed.

"I don't even know if we can lift that at"

 _VRRROOOOOOOOOMMMMM!_

Grina opens her eyes, as they were expanding: the car lights were on and the motor was rumbling.

"Oh… oh." She twists her head, over the hood.

 _SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH!_

"FOLLOW ME!" Hun becomes a Squid, sliding on the ground.

The Inklings dive inside the trail of ink, left behind from the boy. The hummer backs away, then as the wheels kept rolling forward, the vehicle passes on the ink. The car was getting near the blue Squid: screams were heard from below the ink.

Hun turns on his right: in front of him there were multiple trees near each other. The hummer slides, as the wheels were rotating to the right. The Squids swam near the trees. They returned to their original forms, as their eyes were resting on the vehicle, which wasn't moving.

"Ha! Too big to fit here?!" Grina shakes her fist, frowning. "Leave us alone, already!"

The hummer's lights were shut off, as the motor stops rumbling: the kids screamed, looking around. Mirii lowers her eyebrows, as her eyes were staring at the bag she was holding with the ropes.

"All right, everyone." Mirii lays down the bag. "Let's all restart the game, here."

"START A GAME?!" Grina turns over the girl. "WITH SOMEONE TRYING TO KILL US?!"

"Grina." She picks the game box, from the bag. "Don't you understand that he'll keep chasing us, if we don't finish his game?"

 _The game… you have the game._

Everyone raise their heads.

"Yes." Mirii pats the box. "What are you going to do about it?"

Silence followed up… for a moment.

 _Do you really want to… play?_

"Yes! We told you that even before!" Grina clenches her fists, growling. "Why you are keep attacking us?!"

 _Because… you failed._

"Dude! The game is like impossible to beat! Every single card sends us back to the start!" Bars opens his arms.

"Yeah!" Grina frowns. "We will take all day to finish everything up!"

 _The game is… too hard?_

"Yes." Mirii nods. "If you are so kind to let us return home, we are going to play it immediately and try to finish it now."

Silence fell down once again. The Inklings' lungs were growing and shrinking, as they were shivering.

 _Go._

"Thank you." Mirii smiles, looking the shining stars. "Let's go everyone."

Mirii walks ahead, followed by the other kids.

"Ehm… will we really not get hurt?" Hun bends his back and arms, as he keeps looking left and right with his eyes.

"Yep!" Grina grins. "He finally realizes how honest we are!"

Suddenly, the ground trembles: the Inklings fell down.

"HEY! WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!" Grina stands up, looking the blue sky.

 _Friends… I still want to kill you._

Mirii gasped, lying a hand in front of her mouth.

"Wh-why?! We want to finish your game!" She looks up, frowning slightly.

 _You broke… the promise._

"You mean the message, dude?!" Bars growls, lowering his eyebrows.

 _You didn't finish the game…_

All the sudden, Grina stops breathing for a moment.

"Wait… is there something we don't know yet?!" She grits her teeth.

Silence passed by.

 _Walk… home._

"Tell us what you have in mind!" Grina frowns.

 _No… requests._

Bars lies his hand on Grina's shoulder.

"Let's just get inside, girl." He pats her shoulder.

Grina turns her head over the boy: she nods. The kids start walking, along the blue ink trail: Mirii was grabbing both her arms, Grina breathes on her hands, Bars' teeth were tapping and Hun was pulling his pants up. They all had raised eyebrows.

The Inklings' eyes track the house. Their pace got faster. Grina reaches the door knob: twisting it, a click sound came out from it. She pushes the door, passing through, being followed by the others. Ahead, there was a blurry light, behind a semi-open door.

The kids look at each other: they rushed ahead. They all stop near the chimney, which have fire inside: all their palms, except Mirii's, were facing it. The girl puts the game box on the armchair, then she stretches her arms, as her palms were in front of the chimney.

"Aaaaah… such a relief!" Grina smiles.

Suddenly, the fire forms a face: small eyes, large mouth with pointy teeth out and small pointy ears. The face opens the mouth wide: the kids screamed, falling backwards. The face bites thin air: it returns to be fire.

The Inklings' lungs kept growing and shrinking at fast rate.

"IS THIS YOUR IDEA OF GETTING RID OF US?!" Grina frowns, looking the ceiling.

The fire was cracking loudly.

 _Begin._

Mirii twists her head to the right: on the long table, there are two lit candles.

"Are those candles going to attack us too?" She looks up, lowering her eyebrows and standing up.

 _I said… begin._

Mirii frowns a little. She picks up the game box, walking near the long table. She puts the box on the table, then she pulls a chair near her, sinking on it. Hun walked over Mirii, sitting on a chair nearby. Grina and Bars walk behind the table, as the girl sits on a chair in front of Hun and Bars sits on a chair, next to Grina, as he looks Mirii ahead.

The girl lifts up the lid: as her eyes rest on the items, those expanded. The Yellow statue was depicting Grina, as she was grinning with her eyes closed. The Blue statue was depicting Bars, as he raises the left fist, while grinning. The Orange statue was depicting Mirii, folding her arms and lowering her eyebrows. The Green statue was depicting Hun, as he was smiling while puffing his chests.

"Wh-what's the meaning of this?!" Mirii picks up her own statue, looking around it.

"Those statues weren't depicting us!" Grina holds her own statue.

Bars picks up the deck, seeing some cards.

"Those seems the same to me!" He divides the deck.

Hun takes the map, unfolding it: all the panels have a ? on it, except for the START panel and the FINISH panel, near a green dragon with a very large stomach.

"That's not!" Grina stands up, pointing at the center of the map.

She looks the ceiling.

"What did you do to the game?!" She opens her arms.

 _One thing… to say._

Grina looks at the other Inklings, with her mouth a little open.

 _No… escape._

"You mean… we can't retreat?" Mirii lies her elbows on the table.

 _Yes… don't leave the room._

Mirii positions the statues on the START panel: the Mirii statue was near the Hun statue, the Bars statue was behind Mirii statue and the Grina statue was behind the Hun statue. Grina takes the dice, holding it in a fist.

"Ok…" She shakes the fist. "Let's decide the turns."

She throws the dice on the map: six dots were shown above. The other faces of the dice have six dots too.

"Huh?!" She bends her back, looking at the dice. "The dice have 6 all over the place!"

"Dasquid?!" Bars raises his back with his hands on the table.

"Hey!" Grina looks up, frowning a little. "How can we decide the turns, if the dice shows the same number?!"

 _You… start first._

Grina's jaw dropped a little. She gulps.

"How many spaces…?" She picks her statue.

"6." Mirii lies her hands on the table.

The girl puts the statue on the 6th panel: she picks a ? card. Her eyes were going left and right: suddenly, her neck stretches forward, as the girl holds the card with both her hands.

 _Sweat is coming down from your forehead, your feet start feeling burnt and your tongue is getting dry by the second._

Grina lowers her hands, looking at the other kids. Silence dominates inside the room. All the sudden, the girl's were growing and shrinking rapidly.

"Is it me or… the room is a bit too warm?" She waves her hand near her face.

Sweat was sliding down from her forehead, as her skin was gradually getting red.

"No!" Mirii stands up, with her hands on the table. "That's the event card giving you this!"

Grina was breathing loudly: she was red almost all over her body.

"He-help!" She opens her mouth, sticking out her tongue, as she stands up. "HELP!"

The girl runs towards the door.

"NO GRINA, STOP!" Bars stands up, stretching his arm.

Grina stops, turning around.

"DON'T LEAVE THE ROOM!" The boy moves his arm down. "COME HERE!"

"Bu-but I'm burning!" Tears are coming down from her eyes. "I-I don't want to get burned!"

Hun trembles. Mirii was tapping her cheek quickly, while looking up: she expands her eyes, as she turns over the girl.

"IGNORE IT!" She grits her teeth.

"IGNORE IT?! ARE YOU TAKING ME FOR AN IDIOT?!" Grina clenches her fists, as her arms stretched down.

"Think about it!" Mirii slams on the table. "If he had the possibility to burn us alive, he would have done so much earlier!"

Grina was breathing loudly and fast: she screams loudly, with her eyes closed, as her skin was completely red. She grits her teeth, slightly opening her eyelids. The girl walks slowly towards the table, sitting on the chair.

"Girl, please!" Bars holds her hand.

The girl looks at his eyes: she grasps his hand even more. Sweat was gradually disappearing from her forehead and her skin was assuming a lighter color. The two Inklings smile at each other.

"Thank you, Barsy." Grina winks.

Bars' cheek got a little red.

"It worked!" Hun stands up, smiling at Grina.

"Yes." Mirii nods, looking at him with a smile. "Better remember this."

 _Girl… your turn._

Mirii looks up, as her eyebrows lowered a bit.


	5. Chapter 4 - Torture

**If you like this story so far, please let me know about it with a review.**

* * *

The small fires on each candle were growing and shrinking, multiple times. Grina lands her palm on her forehead, as her eyes rest on the black smooth wood, with a single horizontal scratch. Bars have the dice on his right hand, which he kept rotating with his fingers. His head was pointing at the deck of cards, with a flipped one standing on its right.

Hun's head was turned over Mirii, as his eyebrows were raised. His hands were standing on his legs, while his back was stretched forward. The girl grows her lungs, then shrinks them while letting out a great amount of air from her mouth, making a loud breathing sound.

Grina covers her wide open mouth, while closing her eyes and doing a loud sound.

"Sorry…" She rubs her right eye with the left side of her forefinger. "I'm so stumbling…"

Mirii lowers her eyebrows: she picks her statue with her thumb and forefinger, placing it on the 6th ? panel. The girl turns her head over the deck: she was stretching her arm towards it.

"Wait!" Hun stops his hand in front of the deck.

Mirii twists her head on the boy. He was looking in her eyes.

"Do you really have to pick up that card? I-I'll pick them all for you!" He slightly lowers his eyebrows.

Mirii kept looking at Hun: she smiles.

"Everything will be fine, Hunley. I know what to do, with those cards."

"Are you sure…?" He gulps slightly.

Mirii nods. The boy sighs loudly, as he retreats his own hand back. The girl takes the card on the top and flips it. Her eyes were going left and right.

 _His fingers are twitching, his arms are moving forward. Your neck is the target from the person you'd least expect it._

Her irises shrunk. She slowly turns over Hun: his eyes were expanding. Grina covers her mouth with both her hands, while looking at the boy. Bars was slowly standing up, walking on his right. Hun raises both his hands: the fingers were twitching.

"Hunley…" Mirii was shaking her head, as she stands up while pushing the chair. "Calm down… you are able to control your arms…"

The girl was slowly walking backwards, as her eyes became watery. Hun was standing up, stretching his arms over Mirii.

"Help! Someone is pulling myself!" He jumps the chair, sprinting over the girl.

Bars holds his shoulders, pulling Hun backwards.

"DUDE, STOP! DON'T THINK ABOUT IT!" He shouts near his ear.

Grina crawls under the table, standing up in front of Hun: she looks in his eyes, while resting her hands on Bars' ones.

"Hunry! You can't let a stupid event card have the best of you! I mean, your heart beats only for Mirii!"

Hun and Mirii's cheeks got extremely red. His shoulders start moving left and right, with increased strength: Bars left the grasp, falling on his back. He grabs Grina, throwing her on the boy with her stomach down. Mirii was running behind the armchair: Hun dives on her, both falling on the floor.

He turns the girl, making her stomach face the ceiling: the boy grasps her neck, as the fingers pushes on the skin. Mirii was choking, as her hands were grasping his and her legs kept slamming on the tiles. Tears were coming from the boy's eyes, as he was yelling.

"Don't… think… about… it!" Mirii coughs loudly.

Hun's lungs grow and shrink at fast speed: he starts looking at the ceiling. The fingers were gradually retreating, the hands were slowly sliding off from the girl's neck. His feet stand on the floor, as Hun was raising.

Mirii smiled, leaning her back up with her hands.

"Good job, Hunley."

Hun looks down: he smiled too, as he passes his forefinger on the tear crossing his left cheek.

"Thank you, Mirii." He stretches his arm, in front of the girl, while opening his hand.

The two blushed: Mirii grabs his hand, as she gets pulled up by him.

"Luckily Hunry is just a kid."

Hun turns back: Grina was lying her left arm on the chair's top rail, smiling.

"I'm sure he can be strong, if he wants to." She winks at him.

"Heh…" He puffs his chest. "Of course, I would!"

The boy returns staring at Mirii: she was still smiling. Hun walks around the table, followed by the girl. He sank on a chair, in front of Grina. Mirii sits next to him, in front of Bars: she puts the flipped card on the top of the previous one.

"All right." Bars look at Hun. "Is this going to be your turn?"

 _Your… turn._

"Mine?!" Bars points at himself. "Oh, crud…"

Grina raises her eyebrows, as her eyes were glued on his hand catching his statue, placing it behind Grina's. His hand was trembling, as it approaches the deck of the card, picking up the top one. He covers his eyes with his other hand: he lifts the forefinger, while the eyes were resting on the words.

 _Your eyelids are getting heavier, your mind is searching through its memories. The creatures you see, are coming..._

He lowers his hand: his eyes expanded, as he turns his head over Grina. She stands up, holding his shoulders and looking at his eyes.

"Don't… sleep…" She said in a low voice.

His eyelids were slowly dropping. Grina shakes him.

"Bars! Don't sleep!" She lowers her eyebrows.

"Whoa, girl… it's like… I took one thousand melatonin packs…" His eyelids were lowering.

"No, Bars!" She kept shaking him. "Don't think about it! It's just a stupid illusion!"

His eyes were closed, his head was tilting on his left shoulder, as grunting sounds came from the inside of his mouth.

"OH NO!" Grina backs away a little. "HE'LL NEVER LISTEN US, NOW!"

"That's not true, Grina!" Mirii stands up. "Keep calling him!"

 _GRRREEEEEEEEEUUUUUUHHH!_

The kids quickly turn over the door: it was gradually bending, followed by loud noises.

 _CRAAAAASSHH!_

The door was divided in uneven pieces, scattered on the floor: a flying big dark green squid was floating forward. The face was full of scars and lines of black liquid, the eyes were completely black. The kids screamed: Mirii and Hun dive under the table. Grina runs behind the armchair. Bars keeps grunting, with his eyes closed.

The monster was floating towards Grina. The girl was moving backwards with her hands, while trembling: tears were coming down from her eyes.

"GRINA!" Mirii was looking at the monster. "BARS CAN STILL HEAR YOU!"

Grina's lungs were growing and shrinking: she was almost near the fire.

"BARS!" She shouts, gritting her teeth. "DON'T THINK ABOUT THIS MONSTER! PLEASE! I'M BEGGING YOU!"

The squid backs away, bending the back.

 _GRRREEEEEEEEEUUUUUUHHH!_

"STOP RIGHT THERE, YOU MEANIE!"

The monster turns around: a small Inkling with the face skin completely blue was standing on the floor. He was wearing a silver helmet with slim holes on its visor rose up, as small tentacles were tied up in a brown rubber band, sticking out from the helmet.

His body was covered by a silver armor, his hands by gauntlets, his legs by silver pants. He was holding a sword on his right hand and a small shield on his left hand. He points the sword towards the squid.

"IF YOU DARE TO TOUCH THE TENTACLE OF THAT FINE DAMNSEL, I'LL CUT YOU IN A HALF!" He lowers his eyebrows.

 _GRRREEEEEEEEEUUUUUUHHH!_

The monster floats towards the small Inkling. He swings the sword, hitting the target: the squid yelps loudly. The windows broke down and the kids screamed, covering their heads down. The monster flies with the head leaned forward. The Inkling thrusts his shield, as the squid impacts on it: the squid falls on the ground, with the face looking up.

The Inkling swings his sword on the monster, cutting it all the way through: black liquid was pouring on the tiles. He raises his sword, looking at the ceiling.

"YES! I WON!"

Slowly, both disappear in thin air. The wind was blowing around, as the fires on the candles were stretching on their left side. Grina's eyes were covered by her hands: she lowers them, shivering as the wind caresses her head.

Bars' eyes open up: he stretches his arms and legs, while yawning.

"Uuuuh… wh-what just happened…?" He looks around, while rubbing his eye with the left side of his forefinger.

"The craziest stuff I have ever seen." Grina walks towards the chair, sinking on it.

"Really…" He places the flipped card on the top of the other ones, while looking at Mirii sitting in front of him. "I did a weird dream… like I was wearing this armor and"

"We all saw that." Mirii lowers her eyebrows. "Your dream was affecting the real world."

"Whoa, really?!" He bends his back forward, as his hands stand on the table. "How this happened?! I remember to be in a castle or something!"

Mirii and Hun look at each other. Grina's lungs grow a lot, then shrink down while letting the air came out from her mouth.

"Let's not think about this too much… my head is already exploding!" She massages her forehead.

"Ehm… is it my turn?" Hun points at himself, as his mouth downturned.

 _Yes… begin._

The boy gulps. He takes his statue, putting it behind Mirii's. He looks at the deck of cards.

"I have a question." He looks the ceiling. "Can I choose the cards below the top one?"

"You can't." Mirii clasps her hands on the table. "The rules force the players to pick up the cards shown above."

"Oh…" The boy lowers his head, as his eyes rest on the deck.

He sighs, picking up the card on the top of the deck. His eyes were moving left and right.

 _Your skin gets paler, as you are swimming inside fresh water. Creatures swim nearby, going forward. The timer keeps going, as a man wearing overalls is defeating one creature after another._

"Wh-what did I just read?! This doesn't make any sense!" His eyes look forward.

He gasps: the boy is a white squid with small black eyes! Around him there was blue, crystalline salty water. Below him, the terrain was green with rocks of a darker color, magenta corals stretching upwards and a crab frowning, while walking sideways.

A group of round red fishes with yellow fins and white wings, were swimming past Hun: the squid's eyes were looking left and right, through the crowd of fishes. Suddenly, they all swim in different directions: one of them pushed the Squid aside.

He looks down, seeing three red fishes slowly falling down towards the ground: they had burn marks on their heads.

 _Yahoo!_

The squid looks ahead: a man was swimming forward. He was wearing a white hat with a M on its center, surrounded by a round space. He has wide mustaches, a big round nose and light-blue eyes. He was wearing red overalls, white shirt and gloves and brown shoes.

The man swings his right arm, as a fireball came from his palm and flies towards Hun: he yells, propelling upwards!

"Oh no!" The man looks up, lowering his eyebrows.

The squid kept propelling away, gradually going up.

"Come back here, you little squid!" The man swings his arms faster.

"GO AWAY!" Tears were coming down Hun's eyes.

 _THONK!_

His eyes keep rotating, as little squids were swimming near his head.

"I'm gonna get ya!" He swings his arm, throwing another fireball.

Hun shakes his head: the fireball passes near him. He propels himself downwards, as 3 fireballs were passing above and near his sides.

"HELP! HELP!"

As he was swimming down, with teary eyes… suddenly multiple memories kept running through his mind. He frowns, looking up.

" _I… I'll not think about this!_ " He bends a lot.

The man stops moving his arms, looking at the squid with his mouth open. Hun propels around and once. The man swings his arm multiple times: only one fireball scratches the left side of the squid. He kept propelling, with his left eye closed, near the man… landing on his head.

"Ooooooh! Mama miiiiiaaaaaaa!" The man shrinks instantly.

His hat and shirt are now red and his overalls are blue. Sweat came down from his forehead: he turns around, then he swings his arms rapidly, getting away from the squid. Hun's lungs were growing and shrinking: he shuts his eyelids.

"HUNLEY!"

The boy yells, opening his eyes: Mirii was in front of him, with raised eyebrows.

"Wh-where am I?!" He looks around.

Grina and Bars were on the other side of the table.

"You are in the real world." Grina smiles. "You sure shouted a lot of nonsense, before."

Hun turns his head over Grina, while she giggles.

"Wh-what nonsense…?" He trembles a bit.

"Ravioli." Mirii nods. "That's what he said."

"Actually, there were other"

Mirii turns over Grina, frowning a lot and growling. The girl expands her eyes, raising both her palms.

"Never mind! We have a game to finish!" A sweat drop appears near her forehead.

"Girl! Look where the statues are!" Bars points his finger on the center of the map.

All the statues were on the FINISH panel.


	6. Chapter 5 - The past

**Thanks for the review, Leafstar! Hope you'll enjoy this next one too!**

 **For those who like my story... please, let me know about it with a review!**

* * *

The fires, resting on the candles, were stretching a lot: they disappeared along with the wind, as smoke was now coming from the top of the white candles. The fire from the chimney gradually shrunk, while smoke was raising between the logs.

The kids were all turning their heads and backs multiple times, seeing the entire area now assuming a dark blue tone.

 _I have… enough…_

"So, my theories were true..." Mirii raises her face up, frowning, as her eyes were resting on the ceiling. "You came up with this whole plan, thinking to get rid of us by using magic illusions."

"Wait… don't tell me he's going to run away?!" Grina frowns even more, while staring at the girl.

 _I'm coming…_

"Oh no!" Hun turns his head, as his eyes could track the stairs. "Let's all jump from the windows!"

"No, Hunry!" Grina raises her left sleeve first, then her right sleeve.

She keeps her frown, as she stands up from the chair and steps forward 3 times. She stands still, in front of the armchair's left side positioned almost in the center.

"I'm getting sick of running! I'm also getting sick of having this young appearance!" Her head tilts down, looking at her large pajama. "This guy is not going to make us grow back, until we knock him down on the cold, cold floor."

Bars pulls himself up, leaning on his hands, walking near the girl: he was frowning too.

"I'm with you, girl!" He pushes his right palm on his left fingers, as a cracking sound immediately follows.

He does the same gesture with his left palm on his right fingers, followed by a cracking noise. Mirii walks near the sofa, as her eyes were glued on the door-shaped hole, where the door was previously standing. Hun runs, stopping near the girl and standing on her left side: his eyebrows were lowered.

Red eyes appears above the pieces of the door.

 _Do you want to… fight me?_

"Yes! You left us no choice!" Grina clenches her fists, bending her back forward a little.

The red eyes blinked multiple times: they rose a little, as light-blue smoke was appearing below. The smoke was taking different shapes: thick pants, a sweater with a jacket on and a head behind the red eyes. The kids raise their heads, slightly.

On the top of his head, there are two tentacles tied up in a white rubber band. On the red eyes, black irises grow out. On the top of the eyes, thick eyebrows grow too: they lowered. The jacket has a large checkered patch on the right side: the left corner is a bit shorter than the right one, with multiple arc shapes on its edges. The jacket has two large pockets: the right one has a small hill near the bottom.

The man lowers his head, as his eyes stare at Grina: she left her mouth open, moving her back a little backwards. He sinks his right hand on the jacket's right pocket: he pulls a knife, with a thick tang. It has dark spots on the tip area, with small holes on its edges.

"Your little fists are futile. I have a knife." He raises the knife.

"So, you decided to appear tall, leaving us shrunk down…" Grina's eyes scroll down until his large shoes, then scroll up until his head. She lowers her eyebrows, spitting near his shoes. "Disgusting."

He looks down on the spit, then looks back at the girl.

"Your size is not considered an advantage for me." He turns his head on each kid. "It'll make the events more legit."

"Legit?! What are you talking about?!" Grina roars, bending forward.

"You… … did you ever know about your ancestors?" He lowers his knife.

"Ancestors?! Dude, which thought road you took now?!" Bars grits his teeth.

"Wait a moment, Bars." Mirii turns her head over him.

"Uh?! What's it…?" He turns his head towards the girl.

She steps forward, lowering her eyebrows.

"I'm sure he was thinking how we know the same persons he met in the past… am I correct?" She holds on her hips.

The man nods, as his head was turned on the girl.

"You have her same skills…" His legs move on the left, as his body was now facing Mirii. "Always on track, always ahead of us all."

Mirii raises one of her eyebrows.

"Do you remember her full name?" She stretches down her arms.

"Anna Kelpshell." He raises his head, as his eyes look on the ceiling.

Mirii gasped, as her hands rest on her mouth.

"No… n-no! It c-can't be!" She shakes her head. "My last name is Kelpshell!"

"She always wanted to visit the city… often her dialogues were based around that theme… she even wrote down a letter, meant to be sent at the most prestigious university of that time... located in the middle of the city." His eyes were glued on the ceiling.

Silence fell down for 3 seconds.

"Look, buddy: do you really expect us to believe in your story?! What if you are reading our minds, so you could come up with the names?!" Grina frowns, lowering her eyelids.

"If he could, he would never crash on that tree!" Mirii looks at the girl.

She looks back, raising her eyebrows.

"Oh… well… th-that's a good point, actually…" She laughs, closing her eyes, as a sweat drop appears near the left side of her forehead.

"Julie Inkol."

Grina gasped, looking the man's eyes, as they glow through the area almost covered in darkness.

"She was the one, who often runs around the fields… always have the brightest smiles… always giving out a hand to her friends…" He lowers his head.

A tear came down his left eye. Grina shakes her head slowly.

"My ancestor… she was really like this…?" Her eyes expanded.

"Yes." He nods, turning over the girl. "She always hugged me, when I was crying… until that day."

His left hand curls up in a fist, shaking a little.

"Until the day when their parents entered in my house and took them away! They were all going away!" He frowns a lot, raising his head. "THEY WERE AWAY BECAUSE NO ONE WAS LIVING WITH ME!"

"What?!" Bars lowers one of his eyebrows. "Dude… don't tell me that"

"I DECIDED TO LIVE ALONE IN THE FIELDS! THE PEOPLE OF THE CITY TRIED TO TAKE EVERYTHING I HAD! THEY… th-they…" Other tears were coming down from his red eyes. " They took away her… the only thing who made my heart whistle every day…"

He leans his hand on his chest's left side. The kids' eyes were getting watery, as their arms were all stretched down.

"My heart… it required more privacy… more seclusion from any creature who I could communicate with… that's why I choose the fields…"

"The farms…?" Hun rubs his chin.

"I didn't except to see all those persons around me… I was often behind the walls of my house… as I was drawing an event panel…" He rubs his eyes.

"Wait a minute…!" Grina lowers her eyebrows. "The game we were playing before… you made it?!"

Silence follows up for 3 seconds.

"It was one of my latest creations… before I'd propose the game, at the companies living in the cities… I usually let 4 kids play with it. They were the only ones, who knock on my door and talked to me… my friends…" He lowers his head. "They always wanted to finish up my games, even though some of them were very luck-based…"

"Except this one…" Mirii folds her arms.

He shakes his head slowly.

"They listened to their parents… no one ever knocked on my door again… … I didn't even know what happened to me, until I could raise a boulder with my thoughts."

"You weren't sealed inside that game box…?" Grina tilts her head.

"Later that day, an old woman walks near me… she told me about my fate and how well she knows my story."

Hun gulped.

"Did you just said… an old woman?!" He trembles.

"Yes. She promises me to let me see my friends again… or should I say… their descendants." He looks at each kid. "They would receive the game and play it in the middle of the night… that's the only thing she told me about."

"Look…" Grina lowers her head a little. "We are sorry if we didn't finish up the game… but we are going to, once the sun is seen!" She raises it back.

"No… you only had one chance… one chance to show me the truth. You are no longer my friends." He frowns a lot.

"Why you didn't visit our ancestors?! What we have to do with this whole situation?!" Mirii frowns a little.

"Your ancestors… they are standing near you, in this very moment."

Grina let her jaw drop, as she slowly turn in a direction: another girl was looking her face. She was glowing a very bright white light, as she was wearing a long dress. Near Mirii, there's another girl wearing a long dress, around a very bright white light. Near Bars, there's a boy wearing a shirt and pants, looking at him, surrounded by white light: he nods. Near Hun, there another boy wearing a shirt and pants.

"They were always there… pushing me away with their magic wind…"

The glowing kids were all frowning at the man. He sighs, raising his eyebrows.

"They changed the event cards, so you'd never complete the game. How awful…"

"Wh-why they are as young as us?!" Grina looks at the man.

"They are weak to this type of magic… they still were able to push me around, though." He looks at each glowing kid.

"Except when you are possessing an item, like our hummer." Mirii taps the floor.

"And when I'm in this form." He slowly raises his knife. "Your guardian angels can only watch you all… as my knife will cut out all your necks."

All the kids raise their fists up, almost covering their faces: they all frowned.


	7. Chapter 6 - Battle

**Thank you for the review, Leafstar!**

 **We will see if we get to know anything about that old lady...**

 **Also, thank you OctoInkling75 for the review! I see you got a certain reference appeared in one of the previous chapters...**

 **If you like this story, please let me know about it with a review.**

* * *

Hun puffs his chest, as he turns into a squid: he slides forwards, going left and right. He jumps while spinning, towards the tall man's stomach. The squid passes through it, landing on a large door piece on the floor, cutting it in a half.

"What?!" Grina cover her mouth with both her hands.

"… you fools… did you ever wondered why I talked so much, while standing perfectly still?" He throws the knife, as it flips around: he catches the handle.

"Because our attacks pass through your body!" Mirii frowns slightly, doing a step backwards.

"Yes. However, when my knife will strike you… you are going to feel a really cold pain." The man turns around. "And you, little Squid… you'll be the first."

"NO! NOT HUNLEY!" Mirii stretches her arm forward.

The glowing kids look at each other: they nodded, as a burst of light explodes throughout the entire room.

"What the?!" The man covers his eyes with his left arm.

The darkness penetrates through the light. Grina had her eyes closed, while gritting her teeth: she blinked multiple times, before she felt something heavy was on her hands. The girl lowers her head, seeing a gun with a capsule positioned on it, horizontally. It was covered with a bright white light.

"What?! A Splattershot?!" She turns the weapon around, seeing each part.

"I have a Splat Charger!" Mirii was turning around her bright white weapon.

"Man! I never saw a Splat Roller like this!" Bars raises his weapon, smiling: it has a large roller cover on its tip, drenched with bright white ink.

Hun returns in his humanoid form: he looks at his palms.

"Listen to me now, Hun…"

The boy turns on his right, seeing his ancestor.

"Once he's covered in light ink… he becomes vulnerable." He points at the man, which was still looking at Hun.

The boy gradually opens his mouth: he nods two times, turning over the man and frowning. He shakes his head slowly.

"I can't believe you are able to talk… you kids sure had other surprises hidden away from my knowledge."

"Aaaaaah, shut up!" Grina holds the trigger, lowering her eyebrows and gritting her teeth.

The projectiles hit the man, as he yelps. Bars jumps, swinging his weapon over the man and sending a wave of light ink all over him. Mirii points her Charger over his head, while her finger was holding the trigger: she let it go, as the gun shots a line of light ink on his face.

The man was walking backwards, as his hands were covering his face, yelping loudly.

"Now… it's your turn, Hun!" The ancestor stretches his arm.

The boy nods: he becomes a Squid, sliding near the man, then jumping on his shoulders while spinning. The man exploded in blue ink, which landed on the armchairs, some chairs, the board game, the center part of the long table and the right side of the sofa.

"Yes! We defeated him!" Grina jumps, thrusting her Splattershot upwards, smiling.

"No, Grina! He's not done for!" Mirii's head was turning around.

"No?!" Grina looks over the girl, expanding her eyes.

"She's right." The ancestor floats a bit forward. "He's still here…"

 _So… this light ink is indeed effective… I was forgetting the feeling of pain… but that feeling will be soon forget again… because I have surprises too._

Multiple steps were heard, faintly: those were increasingly growing, in less than a second. Mirii looks over the door-shaped hole, with still pieces of the door on the floor.

"Watch out! He's coming from there!" She jumps backwards.

Grina and Bars run on the right side of the armchair, near the chimney.

 _SBAAAAAAAAAMMM!_

Pieces of the wall were flying near the table, the central armchair and the sofa. One of the chunks, knocked down the small table, together with the slim vase and the flowers. A large piece of wood flew above a dot of blue ink: Hun emerges from it, as his eyes expanded.

The kids all screamed, raising their heads: a black spider with multiple red eyes on his head was standing still with 8 legs, 4 on each side. The spider was covered in hair, on his legs, body and head: he was almost touching the ceiling with his back.

"JUMP OVER THE WINDOW!" Bars sprints towards one.

The boy jumps over the window, rolling on the cold terrain. Mirii jumps over the window, landing on her feet, next to Bars. Grina yells, as she jumps the window, landing on her stomach with her arms stretched forward. Hun jumps out of the window, in Squid form.

 _SBAAAAAAAAAMMM!_

The spider jumps out of the window, as the walls around it break in several pieces.

"HE'S DESTROYING THE HOUSE!" Bars raises his weapon, trembling and frowning down.

His heart was beating faster.

"NO, BARS! DON'T APPROACH HIM!" Grina stretches her arm over Bars, as her tentacles are pushed backwards for a moment.

His legs stretched forward, one at the time, as his feet sink on the terrain: they bend down, springing in thin air, while wind was blowing in the opposite direction, shaking up his tied tentacles. A battle cry followed the roller cover going down, towards the red eyes covering the large head.

A long hairy leg twists on the right, swinging horizontally on the left: the large nail impacts over the boy's stomach. He yelps, with puffed cheeks and expanded eyes. His weapon falls on the ground, as Bars flies towards the terrain, while spinning on himself, landing on his back with his legs stretched upwards.

Grina screams, sprinting over the boy, while her eyes were getting watery and her pants' tips were covered in mud. Mirii bites her lips, as she was holding down the trigger and looking at Bars. She lowers her eyebrows, as she raises her weapon, pointing the muzzle over the numerous red eyes.

 _BLAM!_

The spider springs over the light ink line, landing behind Bars. The ground was shaking, as Grina tilts to her right, falling on her head's right side. She was gritting her teeth, as her eyelids were lowered: her irises move up, pointing at a large pair of hairy legs stretching upwards.

Hun bends down, bouncing very high in the air, leaving behind a large quantity of blue ink: he spins on himself, as he was directing towards the group of red eyes. As soon as the squid passes through them, those shut off. The stretched legs were still raised. Grina stands up, with her hands touching the cold terrain, then she run over Bars, picking up his hands and pulling him near the house's walls.

The red eyes reappear on his head, as the legs slam down: the ground shook a bit and the nail rose while leaving two large holes.

 _BLAM!_

Light ink fell on his head, as the spider screeches: shards from the other windows scatter all across the ground, while the girls cover their ears and close their eyes. Hun jumps over his head, while spinning: it exploded in blue ink. Mirii gasps: the spider was standing still on his legs, without his head.

The spider turns on his right, towards Grina and Bars: she was saying something to him, while pulling him up on his feet.

"GET OUT OF THERE!" Mirii swing her left arm.

Grina turns her head over the spider: he starts moving his legs in their direction. The girl screams, taking Bars' hand and pulling him. The monster jumps on the house's walls, leaving out a large hole. The house starts leaning on the left, crumbling once it falls on the floor.

Pieces of wood, bricks and furniture were forming a tall hill. The kids were looking at it, with their mouths closed.

"No… the house…" Grina falls on her knees.

Two hairy legs emerges from rubbles, as their nails penetrate through wood chunks. Other two hairy legs emerged, one stabbing the back of a painting and the other one kicks a black piece of wood.

 _CRAAAAAAASSH!_

The spider was up in the air: it has a pair of large wings on its back and a head with two large red eyes. The wings were making a very loud buzzing noise, as a strong was coming from them: the girls' tentacles kept going backwards, as they cover their eyes with their arm.

Bars was walking near the Roller, doing slow steps and covering his eyes with his arm. He picks it up from the handle, with both his hands. The flying spider stretches his legs backwards, tilting his body downwards: he dives over the kids, as they crawled down.

The monster impacts over some trees, pushing all of them down: from one hole, acorns fell on the ground as a Squirrelfish jumps out and sprints with all fours.

"WHY HE'S ASSUMING ALL THOSE FORMS?!" Grina frowns, as she looks at the spider flying up in the air.

"His desire to kill is getting the best of him!" The ancestors floats near Grina. "He's forgetting everything about his previous life, as his rage is giving him more power!"

The monster turns around, tracking down the kids with his red eyes. Bars lowers his eyebrows: he starts spinning on himself, going gradually faster, while stretching his arms. The weapon was slowly raising. The boy throws his weapon towards the spider, as he was diving down.

 _BONK!_

The weapon impacts on his head, dirtying it with light ink: the monster fell on the ground, sliding on his belly until he stops.

"LET'S SPLAT HIM!" Grina holds the trigger.

Light ink comes out from the completely white Splattershot, resting on the monster's back. Mirii shoots ink on each wing: they fell on his back. Bars picks up his Roller, swinging it on the spider's legs. The spider was yelping loudly, as he was completely covered in light ink.

"HUNLEY! IT'S YOUR TURN!" Mirii turns behind, seeing him bending down.

He springs in the air, going higher than the trees. He tilts down, gradually getting faster: he was turning in different directions, until the Squid was falling towards the center of the monster. He starts spinning, impacting on the spider's back.

 _SPLAAAAAASSH!_

A huge quantity of blue ink flew in different directions, resting on the kids, some trees and even on pieces of wood on the crumble hill's edge. Grina's eyelids were colored blue: she rubs them with her forefingers, blinking multiple times.

Hun emerges from the large pond of ink, as a humanoid. He looks around.

"Did we beat him this time?" He walks over Mirii, as his eyes rest on Grina.

She looks on her clothes: they were drenched in blue ink, as the sleeves were large and long.

"We are still like this, Hunry…" She raises her right arm. "He must still be around."

"Girl, how many times we have to knock him down?!" Bars opens his arms.

"He's already down, Bars." Mirii lowers her eyebrows. "I don't think it's truly possible defeating him…"

"But it's possible to seal him away." The ancestor flies up, looking at each kid.

Their weapons fly in the air, as a burst of light surround the Inklings: the other three ancestors are all looking down, with their mouths closed.

"He's now resting into a realm known as **The Boundaries of Existence**." The ancestor frowns a little.

"How did you know his location?" Mirii raises only one of her eyebrows, while folding her arms.

"We can sense energy… as far as that same land goes." He looks away, lowering his eyebrows.

Hun gulps loudly, trembling.

"Wh-what is this boun… what's this land?"

"It's an area composed by a black sky and white sand hills. We never went there beforehand, as voices keep talking about those bad news…" He looks at Hun.

"What bad news?" Mirii raises her eyebrows.

"We don't know them… however, you'll not be alone as we'll come with you. Since he's weak, all we have to do is trap him inside a Light Orb and send him away." The ancestor looks at the other ones.

They all nodded at each other.

"We are sorry for asking you such task… but we need someone able to hold him down, until the Light Orb is ready. We don't have much time."

Grina looks at each kid.

"Well, gang… is either this or having that guy tormenting us for the rest of all lives." She smiles, lowering her eyebrows.

Bars sighs loudly.

"I seriously need some sleep, after this…" He lowers his head, shaking it.

"I'm ready to seal him." Mirii nods. "No one is going to interfere with my perfect plans."

"I'm coming too!" Hun nods, smiling.

Mirii smiles at him.

The ancestors close their eyes, raising their arms: they kept spinning around, forming a white kettle, with a grate on the top of it. It was resting on the terrain.

"Thank you for your support." The ancestor smiles.

Grina nods, stepping on the kettle.

"It's time to finish this!" She grins, clenching her fist.

"Entering Final Boss mode!" Bars jumps, raising his fist.


	8. Chapter 7 - The nightmare

**If you are enjoying the story, please let me know about it with a review.**

* * *

Hun, in Squid form, jumps out from the silver kettle with a grate located on the top. He raises up assuming a humanoid form: the sky was completely black, as white sand hill were extending as far as the boy could see. He lies his foot on the sand: it sinks a bit. He looks down on the sand, as his hand picks up a small pile.

Hun rubs on it with his fingers, even brought the pile near the nose, sniffing it quietly.

"That's sand, Hunry."

Hun turns behind: Grina was smiling, holding her hips. Bars was on her left, as his head was turning around. From the grate, another Squid came in: changing the form, the boy remembers the girl he's seeing.

"You never saw it?" Grina looks up, for a moment.

"Yes I do!" He nods, pouring the pile down. "I never saw it so white, though…"

"An exclusive feature for the Boundaries of Existance." Mirii walks, passing Grina and watching Hun's eyes.

"Tsk." Grina shakes her head slowly, laying her wrist on her right hip, keeping her smile. "That's why you always manage to remember piles of words, for school."

Mirii turns her head, towards Grina.

"So?"

The girl raises both her hands, showing her palms, as her eyes are closed.

"Nothing that could make many veins pop on your forehead!" She grins.

"This is not the time to play around with words…" Mirii returns her head. "Who knows the creatures that could live around."

Bursts of light appear on the hands of Grina, Mirii and Bars: the light weapon materialize on their palms. The kids grasps them, as their eyes were glued on. Another burst of light appears above the Inklings: Hun's ancestor shows up from it.

"Young Anna is right. You should all have your eyes wide and ready!" He looks at each kid.

Mirii lowers her eyebrows a bit.

"Excuse me… my name is Mirii."

"Ah… sorry!" He bows down, slightly. "I can't remember many things…"

The kids all look at Hun.

"… what?" He raises his eyebrows, bending his arms with his palms facing Mirii.

"Nothing, Hunley." Mirii smiles, raising her eyebrows.

She looks at the ancestor, stabilizing her eyebrows, as her smile disappears.

"Now, can you track down that fiend?"

"He's not too far away from here…" He looks to his right, pointing at it with his forefinger. "I'm sure he must be there!"

"Good." Mirii nods.

"Excuse the interruption-smuckuption." Grina raises her right forefinger. "Do we have something who lets track down our Exit point right here?"

Grina points backwards at the kettle, with her right thumb.

"We can create other means of transportation, as well as close them down." The ancestor nods, while looking at Grina. "The grate will push away anyone who tries to enter inside. Trust us: we have experience about this."

The ancestor flies ahead.

"Please, follow me."

The kids nodded, as they started walking.

"Oh man… whenever I touch the sand, it feels like my teeth are chewing on rocks!" Bars does a downturn mouth, as his head was looking up.

"Don't think about it." Mirii looks ahead. "Thoughts like these, make you lose focus and feel unreal pain."

"Yeah, Barsy… just don't think about it!" Grina winks at him, grinning, as she wraps his shoulders with her left arm.

The boy raises his eyebrows. Grina pats him two times.

"But you know, Mr. Hun's Ancestor… I'd never thought that we were well protected by you all! Did you protect us even from weird form, we'd probably never see around?" The girl lay both her hands, behind the head's back.

"Something bad would happen, if you know the slightest details about us… but nothing happened this time." The ancestor keeps looking forward.

"Even appearing in front of us, is something against the rules?" Mirii looks at the ancestor.

He stood in silence for a moment.

"We are almost there. Prepare yourselves."

The kids look at each other: they nodded at the same time. Hun becomes a Squid, sliding on the sand. From a distance, the man was sitting on the sands, as his right elbow was resting on the bended right knee. He was as white as the other ancestors. His head turns over the group, which wasn't far away.

"So… you came all the way here, to imprison me inside an Orb?" He stands up. "You must be nuts…"

"Ha! Says the man who possessed furniture, a Hummer, rejuvenate Inklings and transformed into a giant spider, just to kill us because we didn't finish up his game!" Grina folds her arms, grinning.

The man snorted.

"Ingrate! You are lucky that I'm tired… otherwise I'd cut out that neck of yours…" He clenches his fists.

"Ooooh, puh-lease!" She moves her right hand down, as she raises her right cheek. "We know every single trick you have on your sleeves! Seriously, how about you act like a real grow-up adult and surrender yourself inside the nice orb?"

"Hmpf! You really think… I couldn't do anything to stop you?" He smiles. "I may be tired… but I can still play that event card, I have here…"

His hand goes under the jacket, as it picks up a card with a ? on its cover.

"Which it clearly says…"

 _The most dangerous creatures of your dreams, will surface in this desolate land to give you pain and misery._

Grina expands her eyes, as she looks at each kid: they all had the same expression. The Inklings look around, quickly.

"Wait… he said the most dangerous creatures of your dreams? Man… like, I never inked my bed!" Bars grins, lying his wrists on his palms.

"I don't even remember most of my dreams…" Hun scratches the back of his head.

"I'm not scared of anything… thus a monster will never appear." Mirii nods.

Silence fell down for a moment… all the kids look at Grina, which was trembling and gritting her teeth, as her eyebrows were raised.

"Grina… you don't have anything to say, about this?" Mirii frowns slightly.

"Eeeeeeehhhhmmmmm…" She lowers her head. "Actually… I… ehm… eh eh… I…"

"Grina?!" Mirii frowns even more.

Her mouth trembles, as her head raises.

"Heh… I do have this occasional nightmare, where I'm alone inside this collection of trees… and then… I see the fin risen up from the ground!" She covers her mouth with both her hands. "Here the fin starts chasing me down! I call for help… but the only voice I could hear is my echo! The fin gets closer and closer… and then"

"GRINA!"

The girl jumps, screaming. Veins were popping out on Mirii's forehead, as smoke was coming out from her ears.

"How can you still have such childish nightmares at your age?!" She clenches her fists, standing in tiptoes.

"My age…? You mean, this kid-like age?" She opens her arms, smiling.

"NO! YOU ARE NOT A KID!" Mirii snorts from her nose.

"Everyone, be careful! Something is coming from there!" The ancestors points in a direction.

Not too far away from their positions, a fin gradually emerges from the sands. Grina squeals.

"IT'S THE FIN!" Her hands lay on her cheeks. "RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!"

Grina starts moving her legs in the opposite direction. Mirii grabs the back of her shirt, holding her in the same position.

"You will not go anywhere…" She pulls her in front of everyone.

"ARE YOU CRAZY?! I DON'T WANNA BE EATEN ALIVE!" Grina frowns a lot.

"This is your nightmare, Grina… and now, you are going to defeat it once and for all!" Mirii points at the fin, which was getting closer.

"Bu-but I"

"Come on, girl! Let's roll the monster dude out of the picture!" Bars was walking, while pushing the roller cover on the sand.

From the sand, a giant shark emerges, with the man sitting on his head! The boy yells, stopping with a small slide. The shark was colored in light-blue, as his stomach appears white. Bars swings his weapon over the white stomach: light ink flies on it, quickly sliding down.

"Dasquid?!" He expands his eyes. "Did that Ink inflicted some damage or what?!"

Mirii holds the trigger of her weapon, as she points its muzzle on his head.

 _BLAM!_

The projectile flew on it, only to slowly slide all the way down.

"The light ink is useless!" The girl frowns, gritting her teeth.

"That's not true!" The ancestor looks at Grina. "Use your weapon, Julie!"

"What?! Wh-why me?!" She points at herself.

"It's your nightmare, Grina." Mirii looks at her.

The girl looks at her, for a moment. The shark immerges inside the sand, as the fin was the only thing visible. The animal passes near Bars, while going towards Grina.

"GIRL! THE MONSTER IS GOING AFTER YOU!" Bars lends his hand sideways, near his mouth.

Grina turns around, seeing the fin almost getting her legs: she turns into a Squid, jumping away from it. She returns into her previous form, as the fin was turning widely on the left. The girl gulps loudly.

"Shoot at it!" Mirii lowers her eyebrows.

Grina points her weapon over the fin: she holds the trigger, as ink flies out of the muzzle. The projectiles land on the fin: the monster quickly rises, screaming. The girl fell on her bottom, letting her weapon fall on the sand. She turns around, raising up with both her hands and sprints away!

The other kids were calling her name, as the girl kept running! The shark sinks inside the sand and swims towards Grina. Her heart was beating faster, her eyes were getting watery and her teeth were grit down. She was running up on hills, decreasing the pace when descending from them.

The fin was getting closer.

"LEAVE ME ALONE!" She closes her eyes.

Suddenly, an explosion was heard from far away: the girl immediately opens her eyes, leaving her mouth open. A blue Squid descends from the sky, right behind Grina: she stops, turning around. There was a large blue spot on the sand, as the Squid emerges from it.

He slides, jumping on the incoming fin while spinning: the shark rises, hitting the squid with the tip of the nose. The Squid yells, as Grina lies her hands on her head, while looking up. He fell behind Grina, with the eyes looking down.

The shark roars in front of the girl, as she… gradually frowns down, with her eyes almost getting red.

"No one… EVER TOUCHES MY FRIEND!" She sprints over the shark.

The shark yelps, as it turns around and swims away! The girl was getting closer to the fin, with her hands forming fists and snorting from her nose.

"What's happening?! You were suppose to be scared by the monster!" The man's voice was coming from under the sand.

"THE ONLY THING I'M REALLY SCARED IS WHAT THINGS I'M GOING TO DO WITH YOU!" Grina dives over the fin, grabbing it with both her hands.

The shark yelps even louder, sinking down together with the girl. The other kids were running down the hill, as they see a blue spot on the sand. Bars looks around, while his heart was stretching widely on his chest.

"GRIIIIINNAAAAAAAA!" Both his palms are near his mouth's sides.

Suddenly, the shark jumps out of the sand: Grina was sitting behind the fin, grasping it with her hands. She was yelling, while smiling. The shark was holding the man, from the jacket's back, with the pointy yellowish teeth. The shark lands on its stomach, spitting out the Inkling, as he falls on his back.

"No… I can't be defeated like this!" He raises his back. "It's not fair!"

Mirii and Bars' weapons were surrounded by a burst of light: the two ancestors appear, floating towards the man. A female ancestors was flying really fast, from the back of a hill, reaching the others.

"I lose my achievements in the city, my girlfriend, my friends… WHY I HAVE TO LOSE MY FREEDOM TOO?!" He looks above.

The ancestors raise their hands, while closing their eyes.

"I knew it… real justice doesn't exist… it's filled with people who want to make suffer the next one! CURSE YOU AND YOUR LOGIC! YOU ARE THE EVIL BEINGS, AT THE END!" He grits his teeth, while frowning, as his head turns around at each kid surrounding him. "ALL OF YOU! ALL OF YOU!"

A circle was formed around the man, as it was quickly filled with a white light: it immediately flies up, disappearing in the black sky. The kids all look at each other: they jumped in the air, while closing their eyes and smiling, as they say…

 _Victory!_


	9. Epilogue - Friends

The sky was light-blue with some white clouds floating high and above. There were a pile of dark-brown trees, all stretching upwards, with some orange leaves hanging on the branches. Chirping sounds were heard, as a Squirrelfish sticks the head out of a hole from a tree.

The animal turns around, resting his eyes on a large vehicle with the hood's front-part a little crumbled. On the back seats, Hun and Mirii were lying sideways, as their heads were pointing at the backrest seats. Their eyes were both closed and air was passing in and out through their noses.

Multiple leaves, varying from orange to brown, were under the two Inklings. Some of them were standing on the car floor, along with some acorns, a pair of black sandals and a pair of light-brown wool slippers: both the pairs were close to each other, pointing at the back of the front seats.

The boy's arms were wrapped around the girl, as the left arm was crossing her upper body and the right arm was on her back. Both their own clothes fit perfectly.

On the front seats, Grina was lying sideways with her back against the backrest seat, as her eyes were closed. Her right arm was passing above Bars' chest and her left arm was lying on his forehead. On her lower-part right ear, a piercing was pointed towards the sun, shining. Her legs were bended slightly.

The boy has his eyes closed, with vague traces of beard. Both were inhaling through their noses. Some leaves were standing under them, while a small pile was on the car floor, along with a pair of large yellow Squid slippers and a pair of blue slipper with a Forge logo on each: both were pointing towards the low part of the seats. Above the Inklings, there is a branch with a single orange leaf hanging on its tip.

A breeze shakes the leaf: the petiole snaps and the leaf glides in the air. It was swinging left and right, slowly falling down. It lands on Mirii's forehead, on the left side. The girl faintly snorted, as her eyebrows lower and her mouth slightly downturn. Her eyelids raise a little, for a moment… then blinked multiple times, staying up only a half.

She tilts her head down, as the leaf fell on her neck first, then on the seat. Her irises were pointing at a left hand resting on her right tentacle: she felt warmth. Her eyelids blinked some more, before were fully raised. Her ears were detecting small wind noises and the back of her neck was receiving occasional small bursts of heat.

The girl spins her head on the left, seeing Hun's left eye closed. Suddenly, her cheeks were colored in bright red, her eyes expands and blue ink fell through her nostrils. She let out a small scream, raising her back: her hands were covering her nose. Hun jumps up on his feet, looking at the girl with wide eyes and shrunken irises.

Grina and Bars both raise their backs, as their head were pointing at the other two Inklings.

"What's happening?!" Grina's eyes were focused on Hun's back.

"Oh no!" Hun jumps on the car floor, as his right foot's instep impacts over an acorn.

The boy yelps, falling on the back seat with his left shoulder, as he squeezes his eyes and both his hands were grabbing all the middle part of his right foot.

"Hunley!" Mirii lowers her hands and stretches her back, towards the boy's foot.

Around her nose, there was a large blue spot. Her hands were standing on his hands.

"Let me massage the foot." Her head turns over the boy.

His eyelids were still shut, as his hands were standing on the seat, grasping it tightly. The girl's hands were gently sliding back and forth: her left hand was positioned on the lower part, while her right hand was on the upper part.

Grina folds her arms on the top of the front seat's backrest, as her mouth forms a smile.

"Wow… I never knew you studied the art of healing massages! Did you take your practice with Hunry?"

Mirii's cheeks assumed an even brighter red.

"Sh-shut up, Grina…" She whispers, as her eyebrows lower even more.

The girl turns over Hun, as her hands stop sliding: his eyelids were now raised.

"Does your foot feel better, now…?"

The boy smiles, nodding.

"Thank you, Mirii."

The girl smiles.

"Well, it looks like the girls lose their height advantage against the boys." Grina turns her back, as her left eye winks at Bars.

"Eh eh!" He blushes a bit. "Not to mention, your piercings are back too!"

The girl touches both her piercing: she nods with a smile, while her eyebrows lower a little.

"Yep! My freedom license is back on her rightful owner!"

"Tsk… little kids have them." Mirii slides her right hand backwards, on the blue spot around her nose.

"So?" The girl turns around, seeing Mirii resting her right hand on the seat. "Little kids drink Inkling water too!"

"Hmpf." Mirii lowers her eyebrows and eyelids. "We will talk about that later. For now, we must return to the house and"

Mirii let out a small cough, covering her mouth with her right fist.

"Actually, the house is nothing more than a pile of wood…"

"Yeah…" Grina raises her eyebrows, as her mouth downturns. "Who knows if we can find our cases… and even then, let's hope those are not flattened like Seapancakes!"

"How about the hummer keys, girl?" Bars turns his head, towards a group of trees. "Without them, this thing can't roll down the road…"

"Dude… don't tell me those are inside your case…?" She lies her right hand near her mouth, as the nails were grasped between her white teeth.

He nods, letting out a sigh.

Grina snaps by using the right hand's fingers.

"Drat! Even double! Let's get back there and dig through the pile!" The girl turns her back, as her head tilts down.

She saw the pair of yellow Squid slippers: she takes the right one first, as her right foot enters its hole. She takes the left one, as it slides down with the hole facing the left toes. The girl stands up, turning her head towards a group of trees.

"You have to admit, though… if strangers ever get to listen at this whole story, they would run away from us!" She looks at each Inklings.

They nodded, while their mouths were closed.

* * *

A light-yellow smoke was all over the place. Faints step sounds gradually increase, until a silhouette appears. From the silhouette, the Inkling man comes through: tears were coming down from his eyes, as his eyebrows were raised.

He was staggering a little, while walking. His nose inhales loudly. Suddenly, a group of step sounds echo throughout the place. The man stops, as other 4 silhouettes appear in front of him. Soon, the 4 ancestors came from them. The tallest male ancestor have a beard.

"… I know you'd probably not believe me…" The man rubs his right eye, lowering his head. "… but I realized my previous actions…"

The ancestors kept their mouths closed, floating a bit.

"I was a monster… a terrible monster, who was trying to send your descendants above…" The man raises his head. "I-I don't understand why I was so obsessed with the whole affair! I-I don't know what happen to me!"

"We have answers…" The shortest male ancestor flies in front of the others. "The Light Orb revealed a strange black smoke, surrounding your head."

The man's eyes gradually expand.

"What…?"

"According to the experts, this object is the creation of a being possessing magical powers." The ancestor coughs for a short moment.

"Who… who did that…?" The man clenches his fist.

The ancestor shakes his head, sighing loudly.

"That old woman you mentioned before… they said you were talking with a Seawitch."

"A Seawitch…? I thought those were nothing more than fantastical characters!" He frowns slightly.

"No. They are inside an area, no Inkling ever discovered… however, we don't know the exact location, since they do appear invisible in front of our tracking powers."

The man shakes his head, rubbing his eyes.

"Why… why she did this?!" He grits his teeth.

"Unfortunately, we never managed to find her…" The ancestor looks towards the other ones. "For now, Julie wants to show you something."

The woman nods with a smile: she floats near the man, with her hands behind her back.

"Listen… I'm really sorry for all the trouble I had"

Julie thrusts her hands forward, as those were holding… a game box. The man kept his mouth open, as he was looking its lid.

"I think it's time…" The ancestor smiles, as he floats near Julie, followed by the other two. "… to finish this game."

The man look at each ancestors: they were all smiling. Tears were coming down from his eyes, as a wide smile grew on his face.

 _Thank you… thank you, friends!_

* * *

 **Thank you for reading Inkinators: Halloween 2015! Did you like this story? Please, let me know about it with a review!**

 **Want to read more Inkinators stories? Go to my Profile and start reading from Inkinators: a Splatoon fanfiction.**

 **New adventures are waiting for the 4 main characters, as they try to stop mysterious creatures and reopen the Turf War Station!**


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